Merry Christmas!

It was very nice to have Christmas at home this year with just the five of us.  We pulled off a lovely Christmas dinner, complete with Deep Fried Turkey, and had a relaxing day enjoying our gifts and each other.  Thank you to our friends and family for all the nice things they sent.  But the greatest gift of all is your love and friendship.  We feel very blessed this Christmas day and always!  Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas tree

The girls set out cookies and egg nog for Santa, and carrots for the reindeer.

It's hard enough trying to get a picture of the kids all looking at the camera.

It's nearly impossible to get a good one of the five of us with the timer set.

So you get two versions.  Take your pick.

Tuesday was Daddy-Daughter Date Night.  They both looked really nice.

Coalition to Salute America's Heroes Road to Recovery Conference

Our family had the amazing opportunity to attend the Coalition to Salute America's Heroes Road to Recovery Conference in Orlando, Florida, last week.  What a great event!  It was so well organized and every detail was considered.  The entire focus of the conference was to give the wounded service member and his family the tools to move forward and have a meaningful life after an injury.  There were incredible guest speakers, classes about benefits and entitlements, a huge job fair and resume writing training, an adventure sports expo with adaptive equipment, entertainment for the whole family, and much, much more!  I cannot explain what a great experience we had.  We are so thankful to the Coalition to Salute America's Heroes and all those who donate to their organization to make this possible.  Over 150 service members and their families were invited to attend.  And anyone who left the conference without hope, excitement, and motivation, just wasn't paying attention.

Ryan grabbed a picture with Coaltion Staff J.R. Martinez (wounded soldier and actor on All My Children) and Roger Chapin (founder of the Coalition).

Jaida had a special affinity for this cheerful character at Disney's Hollywood Studios.

Maya was so excited to see her first Disney character at breakfast.

Noah saw his first Disney character at breakfast too.

But he wasn't quite as excited as Maya.

Ryan and Noah take in the sights on It's a Small World.

No explanation needed for this one.

Maya posed for a picture with Mulan, Pocahontas, Chip & Dale, and everyone else she could drag me over to.  But Mickey and Minnie were her favorite!

She got Jaida and friend to bring her over to Buzz and Woody.

We got special tickets to go to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party at the Magic Kingdom and managed to snap a quick family picture in front of Cinderella's Castle.

Finally!

Before

During

After

Are you happy now, Angie???

If you save a cat's life, does it grant you a wish? Or nine lives? Anything?

*loud announcer voice*  ladies and gentlemen!  Prepare to be dazzled!  For Jaida the cat savior has logged onto blog spot and is about to write you a delightful and amusing post!

Why thank you Tom for that wonderful intro!  Hey everyone it's me!!!! And I have a very entertaining story for you today (Which is a True story!  There were many witnesses...)

SO, I'm walking down the street from my friends house with Taylor (our houses are right next to each other and the bus stop is just down the road)  when we pass by one house, we  noticed something furry and motionless laying in the front yard.  I thought it was dead and was planning to turn around when Taylor saw the faint movement of the animal's chest.  We couldn't tell what it was, it was laying on it's side with it's paws and head facing away from us, so we approach it to find that it is a gray tabby cat. It apparently heard me coming and turned around and that is when I saw what shocked me the most.  Are you ready to hear it?  Are you sure you can handle it?  Well if you're sure....it had three heads!!!  Ha ha, just kidding, but it did have to do with the poor creatures head.  On it was a pumpkin pie can.  Yah!  I assume that the poor, hungry creature was sniffing around a recycling box, and stuck it's head in the can, and couldn't get it back out.  Now this sounds hilarious, for you couldn't see the head at all, just a furry neck that leads to a can.  And yes it was, but it was also quite serious.  The can is very small and when I tried to gently pull the can off, it wouldn't budge.  There weren't any gaps, and I'm no doctor, but I had a feeling if this stayed on too long, this cat could lose oxygen and there goes one of its nine lives! I took an even closer look and saw that the can had a jagged ridge that was digging into the throat of the cat.  Thank goodness it hadn't cut through the skin, yet!  I lifted the can determined to help supply some oxygen to the animal and a small amount of water spilled from the can.  Uh-oh.  I told Taylor to get her dad (who is an anesthesiologist) and she ran back to the house.  I stroked the cat and talked to it trying to calm it down a bit (It's fur bristled up in every direction!) and suddenly it let out a high pitch frightened meow that almost made me wanna cry!  Almost.  Taylor's dad came moments later and was able to pry that can off the cat's head.  You will be pleased to know the cat was not harmed in any way that I could tell and hurried away home.  Now, not to ask too much out of you, but to prevent more accidents like Toby's (I decided to call the cat Toby! Isn't that like the best cat name ever?!  I'm gonna name my cat Toby if my mom ever gets one!) could you please put your cans in a plastic bag when you recycle them?  Or cover your recycle bin with a lid or something?  Because if you don't cats all over the place may rule the world and want revenge for making cats look like the tin man!  Ha ha.  Anyways that's all I got for now! Talk to you all when I can! 

 

*Tom* We hope you enjoyed this pleasurable post sent in by none other then THE Jaida!  Tune in next time to hear more about the wonderful works of Jaida the Awesomest!  Other wise known as Jaida the Cat Saint!  Or...

  JAIDA THE CAT SAVIOR